Health Haven Fitness
Become the best possible version of yourself
TESTIMONIALS
Life changing results
AMY STAFFORD
My consistent two time per week 5am morning client Amy Stafford. Amy came into personal training with goals to improve her overall health, lose weight, lean out, and be happy with how she looks and feels. Amy also came in with some reservations about personal training in a his ability to work with injuries, challenging her enough physically, and a fear of the lack of the personal aspect in personal training, especially at five in the morning.
To Amy’s surprise and in her own words, “Will was able to work through my reservations by listening and altering my movement’s if/when needed however maintaining the intensity. Also by laughing, joking, and being yourself. I really enjoyed Will’s ability to push me out of my comfort zone and make it fun.”
The best part about it all is to see that after only 3 months of personal training Amy was able to drop 2 shirt sizes, 4 pant sizes, and 4 dress sizes all to fit comfortably! Her overall strength and endurance also increased drastically over this short period too. Some highlights were her 400 meter run time decreased by 13 seconds and her one mile run time decreased by a whopping two minutes! Amy also increased her max deadlift by 15lbs as well as her plank, dead hang, push-up’s, bench press, and more!
Amy learned proper technique to a lot of exercises, ways to target muscle groups, and now has an appropriate diet too! One of her biggest accomplishments was that she was also able to complete her first ½ marathon in 2018 with me as well! Amy is extremely happy with the results she’s seen in such a short period of time and is excited to continue reaching for new goals. She’s been a blast to work with and sad/excited to see her move on to bigger in better things with her new job and home.
HAYDEN POWELL
I have had the opportunity to help out my cousin Hayden Powell in his health journey these last two months and he has been demolishing everything I throw at him. Since we begun mid-October he has seen so many results with only training with me twice a week and once or twice doing cardio on his own time.
Some highlights we've seen so far were that he lost 1.2lbs of fat and gained 1.5lbs of muscle in less than two months!
Hayden has also increased his basal metabolic rate, obviously decreased his overall body fat percentage, and seen tremendous strength and cardio improvements too!
In his 2000m Row he dropped his time by a whopping two minutes and 15 seconds! He also dropped his one mile run time by 22.7 seconds, increased his max amount of push-ups by 6, max plank time, and more! Some of the biggest strength gains he achieved were in his one rep max squat and deadlift.
In less than two months, Hayden has increased his 1 rep max deadlift by 35lbs and his squat by an astonishing 70lbs! Lifting 215lbs in both his deadlift and squat now! With phenomenal form if I do say so myself. Looking forward to see what more Hayden can achieve with his hard work effort
Hayden says, "I definitely felt like I was accomplishing something every time we worked out. I felt a bit like a bum before we started working out but when we did I always knew I was doing something to better myself. I also learned a lot more about how to workout and what to do and not to do."
KORA FORTNER
Arguably one of the coolest people I know. Kora sells “freedom” as she would say (works at a gun store) and she works at a local skydiving facility which she gets to jump out of planes and help others to do so, for fun.
Kora was already doing personal training with another personal trainer and friend of mine until that trainer had to move to another state. Kora had reservations that she wouldn’t be working on areas of strength that she wanted to maintain. She also wasn’t sure if our training sessions would be interactive (conversational) as they were in the past with her previous trainer. She became very attached to both her previous trainer and her routine.
To her surprise, after her first couple of weeks training with me her reservations changed entirely. Though it was outside of her routine she was used to the exercises were made to be challenging, if not more challenging, than before. Kora has gained strength and improved on aspects that weren’t in my fitness goals to begin with but were really encouraging for her to see. As for the interaction portion, “you have been great to talk to and learn from”.
Kora’s top two goals when she started with me were to improve her strength in movements such as the barbell clean, snatch, deadlift, and squat. As well as increase her grip strength. Kora would say that she’s improved in her grip strength, kettlebell snatches, improved deadlift form/technique, learning about one rep max lifting, and a slight improvement with her wall walks. “You are awesome” is what she leaves me with but we all know people that are jumping out of airplanes for their job are typically the “awesome” ones.
During the short span I worked with Kora she lost one pound of fat, improved on her 2000m Row time by an amazing 57 seconds, increased her max unbroken push-ups to 18 versus 13, and increased her one rep max deadlift by 10lbs.
MELANIE CARLISLE
After working with Melanie Carlisle for 4 months, I am proud to boast about her accomplishments.
Before Melanie started personal training she had multiple shoulder injuries and would dislocate her shoulders often. She was worried that her personal trainer would make her shoulders even worse. Melanie also deals with asthma when exercising so she had some fears any cardio would be too difficult to perform.
Melanie says, “You definitely made me feel better/more comfortable about working out my arms and shoulders again without worrying about hurting my shoulder more. You picked exercises that focused on building strength around my injury vs exercises that could have been more damaging. During the cardio-specific (mainly treadmill/running) things that you had me do, I felt like it was easier when you did it with me.”
Two goals when Melanie started were to gain strength/muscle back in her legs as well as strength and mobility in her shoulders and arms.
In four months Melanie has lost 10lbs, can lift things above her head without pain or injury, learned many other ways to do cardio-based workouts, noticed how much easier it is to lift things and move around at work, and has seen muscle mass and the measurements of her thighs increase significantly (1.5 inches).
NORMA FAVELA
Driven, determined, and dedicated is how I would describe Norma. No complaints, kept her head down, and kept working day in and day out.
In only 2 months’ time, Norma lost 2% body fat, gained 3lbs of muscle, and increased her bench press by 30lbs! Which was only 15 workouts lasting no longer than one hour! We've gone back and forth through training since then, as expected, with the unexpected things life presents us. Norma works numerous hours at work and she just recently had her second child. Norma embodies what it means to make fitness a lifestyle change vs a short-term one. She keeps coming back to prioritize her fitness as best as she can so that she can stay fit for herself and family. Consistency shows the biggest changes but small changes can still happen the more you show up!
PAIGE CARROLL
After working with Paige Carroll for 9 months, I am proud to boast about her accomplishments.
Paige initially had reservations about working with a personal trainer. She had questions about whether or not he would understand age-related issues (shoulders, knees, balance, etc.), whether he would work with me hard enough, and whether he had a good sense of humor. Paige feels her concerns were considered as well as understanding the purpose (the “why”) of what her personal trainer has her do. She also enjoys her personal trainer’s sense of humor because without that she wouldn’t have continued personal training – as she says, “it makes all the difference.”
After the second month of personal training her doctor prescribed a change to her exercise regiment. He advised: no leg extensions, no shallow leg presses or squats, avoid any strain on the knees, don’t implement any running, and don’t do any major inclines on the treadmill ,and instead exercise with light weight and a high amount of repetitions. After nine months of training with Will (slightly ignoring the doctor’s orders), Paige is doing all of these things and more.
During the first 2 ½ months, Paige lost 8lbs and 3.1% body fat. She lost ¾ inches off her waist, 3 ¼ off her hips, and 2 ½ off her thighs. Paige also met some accomplishments in her strength such as increasing her plank time from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, doubling her time during a flexed arm hang (which is a progression to doing pull-ups), and she claimed that her knee pain greatly decreased due to leg strengthening.
Paige had this to say after 2 ½ months: “I’m extremely pleased with my progress so far; it’s worth every penny and more. You always have a variety of exercises so it’s not boring; and you’re really good at encouraging and pushing me. There’s no way I could have done this, or do this, on my own. I am learning a lot, getting trimmer, stronger, healthier, and having fun in the process! Thanks for all you’ve done and continue to do. P.S. Really appreciate your expertise and that you take the time to educate me not only in how to do an exercise properly, but also why I should do it (it helps me get up and down, be more limber, improve balance, etc.) and what muscles are affected. I really like this education!”
Fast forward 6 ½ months, and Paige has continued to see phenomenal results in her physique, endurance, balance, and strength. She has lost a total of 21.32lbs, 19.06lbs of fat, 7.2% body fat. She has lost a total of 5 inches off both her hips and waist, and another 1 ½ inches off her thighs! Paige can now hold her plank for over 4 minutes, and she can run 400m and is improving on her time. She can exercise on a treadmill at a whopping incline of 30, – which most treadmills can’t reach – she can row over 2 miles without stopping, and she can perform over 20 push up’s compared to the 14 push-up’s she could do when she first started. Paige is also participating and significantly improving in one rep max lifts such as bench press, deadlift, and squat; all of which were unimaginable to her and even discouraged by her doctor to perform.
Paige and I still currently work together seeing more amazing results and work through whatever obstacles come at us! Through intentional training we've continued to stay moving and getting the most out of movement and life.
THEA DAKE
My local San Marcos celebrity, Thea, has the biggest heart to serve her city and the people in it. She serves as a member of the city council, extremely involved with her church, and finds multiple ways to serve her city and the people in it every day. Even with the amount of sacrificing she does for others with her time, and sometimes her sanity, she still has been able to squeeze in time to work with me twice a week for thirty minutes to keep her health as best as she can at an amazing 74yrs old!
Thea started training with some reservations that her trainer wouldn’t listen to what she felt she should do versus what she could do. To her surprised, she will happily say that I was able to help her with this reservation by slowly implementing new things and was supportive through the process.
Thea said, “On a scale of 1-10 after five weeks of training I feel that I have improved from a zero to a seven. I feel good about my progress and feel it will continue to improve. Will accepts my goals and doesn’t impose his.”
During my short amount of time with Thea she was able to lose 2lbs of fat, gain a pound of muscle, lose 1.1% body fat, decrease her BMI by 1.3 (27.8 to 26.5), and decrease her 1000m Row time significantly
HANNAH RANDOL
Personal training was given to Hannah as birthday present and a present it was for both of us! Hannah started personal training with an already very fit lifestyle. Participating in workouts five or more times a week and even doing some high intensity CrossFit workouts at previous gyms she attended. This was a good lesson in life for everyone I believe to see her humility to understand the value in personal training. After all, even Olympians have personal trainers! There is always room for growth and improvement. Although we only got to work together for a month and half Hannah saw progress and learned a lot in that short time span.
Hannah’s top two goals when she started was to taught proper squat and deadlift form as well as learning to run properly and be pushed to. Hannah would always tell me during or after our workout sessions that, “this is why I do personal training. I won’t do this on my own. I know myself and I won’t push myself this hard”.
Some achievements she had during training are she learned proper form for the squat, deadlift, bench press, and more! She “actually” trained upper body which she hates, she began a very consistent workout schedule, learned to slow down to become great at one thing versus always moving to the next thing, was able to push herself through rowing workouts although she “loathed it!” as she would say!
In only this short time, Hannah gained 3.5lbs of lean muscle, increased her basal metabolic rate by 18kcals (that adds up!), decreased her 2000m row time by a phenomenal 17 seconds, and increased her one rep max deadlift by 10lbs!
Hannah didn’t have any reservations before beginning her personal training journey, she wanted to be pushed in ways she usually isn’t, and in her words she said, “you pushed me to do more functional training and taught me proper form and how to sprint (which I have done 3 times since we have stopped training together!)” There is nothing she’d of changed about our training and had these kind words to say before she went on her mini summer vacation, “Thanks so much for an awesome month and a half! I can’t thank you enough for forcing me to do sprints even though I wanted to kill you at the time! See ya in June!”
SCOTT LOVELADY
Scott was an exciting person to work with. He came to me with some serious injuries and surgeries. He had a triple fusion in both ankles, removed the accessor bone and achilles; knotching both feet. All that to say, is Scott had a good number of obstacles before we started. I first met him while he was using a scooter to get around the gym and meet the personal trainers. After talking with him on multiple occasions, and building his trust (as I later figured out), we went to work to get him happy and healthy!
After a few months of consistent 30min sessions a few times a week with him, along with homework to do on his own, we made huge leaps and bounds. We first got his upper body fitness back up to par. lost more than 15lbs, and then slowly made progress with his lower body strength. While we slowly started to get him walking and building some lower body strength again. As you see in the picture below, Scott had a serious surgery we had to work around to help him be functional again. By the end of our time together, Scott was running on the treadmill!
Scott was told that he may never run again after countless conversations with his doctors but we got him up and going to be able to complete a one mile run in 12 minutes exactly, and without any pain! Well, besides the normal pain anyone feels when they run. High heart rate, sweating, and the basic discomforts when you try hard in things like that. Scott was what some would think as a miracle to be able to accomplish this. With the proper ambition, support, and know-how, we can create some pretty miraculous physical feats.
KARA GRIFFIN
The first firefighter I've ever worked with and what a treat it was! Kara took her job very seriously and saw the need to become much more fit than she was, at the time, to feel compentent in her job and be able to perform in case of emergencies.
Some big goals of Kara weren't the ones you hear most about. To lose fat, gain muscle, to look better in a bikini, or anything like that. It was to be able to do box jumps, to be as fit as everyone else around her, to perform her job with ease, and we made sure to get there.
By the end of our time working together we got Kara being able to jump on a 20" box when she couldn't even jump on a 8" box. We also cut her mile time down by more than 3mins and helped her feel comptent in advanced movements like the Turkish Get Up and Kettlebell Snatches. After working with Kara for just a few short months we left on a note that she could go into fitness classes at Gold's Gym and compete with others she worked out with. Also, to hold her head up high knowing that she was prepared physically for whatever challenges or emergencies that her job presented her with.
JEFF LOPEZ
Jeff has been one of the most drastic changes I've ever got to see and play a part in. I was honored (and still am) to help him in challenging himself to be at the best shape of his life, be at a weight he feels good in, and play basketball at the gym (he's a huge Spurs fan). We've worked through mulitple goals with his physical weight, lifting more weight, proper exercise technique, running further than he ever has, and more! We started working together in May of 2020 and we continue to crush goals so we have kept at it ever since! I could go on for many more paragraphs but I think the pictures and his words speak more volumes than I could.
Jeff says, "I’m finally back under 170 lbs! Weighed in at 169 this morning. This is the same weight I was able to get down to last year when we got married. This past May I crept back up to 186, but I’m gonna keep it off this time! My goal is to be at 160 by September. Let’s get to work!
The picture is me at my heaviest (260) back in 2014 compared to now I DID IT! 100 pounds officially down! (30 this summer) The goal has been met, but the grind won’t stop. I can’t thank Shawn Dassie and William Stanley Havins enough for being two amazing trainers that I worked with over the past few years! (Will is my current one) And of course Jamie for being my personal chef 😊"
JAMIE LOPEZ
Jamie and I have been working together through online personal training for a very rewarding two months now. The progress pictures you see now were from June 11th to July 24th (Left to Right). From just working twice a week together Jamie has seen significant results and extremely satisfied with her progress thus far.
Jamie initially had some reservations of doing HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) style workouts. As the training continued, we were able to tailor this type of trying towards her goals, success, and enjoyment. Jamie says in response to her initial reservations, “You make the workouts enjoyable and tailored to the person and how to make them better. You push me to be better and ignite a competition within myself to be stronger and faster than I was before.”
During this time of Covid-19 and being quarantined at home Jamie felt herself wanting to take naps and sit around most of the day. Jamie knew what a lifestyle like this would produce because she’s been there before. Knowing how unhappy she was during a lifestyle like this she knew she needed to get her butt up and make some changes. She started personal training with the goals to be more active and consistent. As well as work on her strength, health, and discipline.
In just two short months Jamie has completely changed her mindset around and done some amazing things so far. Here are some of her accomplishments in her own words, “Pushing myself further than I thought I could, gaining ridiculous strength and mobility that I did not imagine was possible, excited for workouts and looking forward to them (instead of dreading them), definition in my legs that I’ve never had before, and overall confidence in myself and my workouts”. To expand on this, Jamie and I have done workouts ranging from going five minutes as fast as possible with a variety of movements to 20 minutes with a variety of movements. Every time we go back to these workouts, she completes more repetitions than before and increases the weight of the exercise movements too! Some of these workouts have small changes and others have drastic changes. But we can both easily notice how much more athletic she’s become both subjectively and objectively. Jamie has lost 10lbs and lots of inches so far and has acquired some serious muscle and definition in the process too.
Jamie adds, “I cannot thank you enough for all the encouragement you provide me weekly & the work you put into ensuring that I become the best version of myself. Nine years ago, when I was initially diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in both of my knees, I would have never imagined I would be as fit or as strong as I am today. In the last two months, I have gained more strength working with you than I have gained in the previous two years. I feel better, stronger, and healthier than I ever dreamed I would. This has been an incredible journey and I’m excited to continue to better myself and my health!”
Jamie has been a joy to work with and she continues to excel in every workout she does. She is an influence and motivator for her husband and friends around her. She holds her health to a high regard and goes above and beyond every time we work out and even on the days we don’t. She is a phenomenal example to follow in everything wellness-related and it’s been a joy being able to work with you. Here’s to accomplishing bigger and better things together!
Allison Smith
Allison was extremtly reluctant to work with a personal trainer. She was conflicted with reaching fitness goals of her own but had no desire to do "workout stuff". Which presents some obvious obstacles. This was an opportunity for both of us. Her parents paid for me to work with her for thirty minutes at a time, twice a week, for two months.
The opportunity that it presented me was to make working out "fun". To help Allison enjoy fitness without too much discomfort knowing that she was working out. We had ups and downs but Allison would say that she enjoyed her time working out much more than she expected. We worked on things she used to do as a kid, such as handstands, cartwheels, and complex ab circuits. She didn't always love it but she always looked forward to going upside down for her workouts.
She convinced her parents to continue paying for training and even had to make a comprimise to pay for some of it herself. We worked together for another SIX MONTHS after that and she was able to enjoy working out so much more. She became a much more compentent mover, identified as someone that works out, and lost 15lbs! She wasn't just becoming more fit, she was feeling great and learned to enjoy the process it took to get there. Again, only 2x/week for 30mins at a time got her to this point. Think about what you can accomplish with that amount of time you give yourself.
NICHOLAS ZIEGLER
A previous roommate and good friend, Nick asked to help me out with an ambition he's had for a long while. Struggling with gaining muscle and strength, Nick asked me to help him out on increasing the amount of weight he could bench press. Nick had an extremely busy schedule but wanted to block out an hour of his time a few times a week to achieve this goal.
I excitedly took on the task to help him to achieve this ambition of his. After a short consultation, we came up with a plan to workout three times a week for just an hour each day to give him some quality strength training along with fitting with his time sensitive needs. We completed some a baseline measurements to see where he was at and then went to work.
This is what Nick had to say after his 35 workout sessions with me. “In three months after working with Will I went from lifting 185lbs on my bench press to lifting 245lbs! Most I’ve ever lifted in my life!”
– Nick Zeigler
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